Crime Is A Social Construct Essay

1936 words - 8 pages

CRIME IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCTCrime is the product of the social structure; it is embedded in the very fibres of society. In this essay, I aim to explore different theories as to why crime exists within society and how we as a society therefore construct it. Crime is a social construct; it is always in society and is on the increase. It is inevitable. Where does it come from? It comes from legislation, from the making of laws.Functionalists see crime deviance in society as a function, in that it serves to remind us, through public condemnation of those who have broken the rules, of our shared values and norms. Furthermore, they suggest that crime is a result of structural tensions and a lack of ...view middle of the document...

The followers of the Interactionist theory, on the other hand, reject this positivist approach and say that it is due to the internal factors of the individual.The Marxism theory however, is structured towards the accumulation of wealth rather than social need. Edwin H Sutherland was the first sociologist to study this area known as 'White Collar Crime' in 1949. Let us now look at crimes of the powerful and the less powerful. There are two main points; deviance is a product of unequal power relations and equality in general. Despite the fact that the law is in favour of the dominant class, some of its members do break the rules for their own gain. Power and equality affect the quality of deviant acts. Thus, people that are more powerful are more likely to engage in profitable deviant acts such as corporate crime i.e. bribery and corruption in business and politics, misconduct by professionals such as lawyers etc. On the other hand, the powerless are more likely to commit less profitable deviant deeds such as burglary, theft and armed robbery. (Ermann and Lundman 1996) Power, or rather social class, is therefore the key element which determines the type of deviance people are likely to carry out. The powerful are more likely to commit deviant acts because of something that is called 'Relative Deprivation'. This is the feeling of being unable to achieve the high standards they set for themselves, compared with the powerless, whose standards are typically low. Their aspirations are so high that they become less achievable. The more that people experience this Relative Deprivation, the more likely they are to commit deviant acts. (Cookson and Persill 1985)Furthermore, the elite have more legitimate opportunities than the poor worker to commit crime i.e. A banker will have better opportunities to defraud customers for instance, and because of his status, the crime is less likely to be detected, whereas the poor worker would probably have to resort to robbing the bank, a much more visible crime. Furthermore, the powerful are subjected to weaker social control. They have more influence in the making and enforcement of control. The laws against higher status crime, the White Collar crime, are therefore relatively lenient and rarely enforced, but the laws against crime which is committed by those with a lower status, are harsher and more often enforced because they are so visible and detected much more easily. The activities of White Collar crime occur on a daily basis, but there is no public outcry or moral panics about it and therefore no legislation made, whereas, 'street' crime attracts massive law enforcement. As Jeffrey Reiman (2001) so aptly stated, "The rich get richer and the poor get prison".Interactionism was quite popular from 1960s to 1970s. Max Weber and George Herbert Mead favour the Interactionist approach and suggest that crime is a social process, that crime is an interaction between the victim, the police/officials and the offender....

Other Essays Like Crime Is A Social Construct

2925 words - 12 pages
â€œBeing local in a globalized world is a sign of social deprivation and degredation.â€(Zygmunt Bauman)
Discuss.
â€œBeing local in a globalized world is a sign of social deprivation and degredationâ€. In order to analyze this statement I feel that it is vital to understand what Bauman means when refering to a globalized world, what globalization is.
â€œGlobalization reflects a widespread perception that the world is rapidly being

2368 words - 10 pages
In the British polity, the two main political parties have historically represented a social class. 'Class is the basis of British party politics; all else is embellishment and detail' (Pulzer, 1967). Labour were seen as the party of the working class, whilst the Conservative party were seen to represent the middle class. There has been a great deal of speculation as to whether this still holds to be true with increasing numbers of the

919 words - 4 pages
Although Coleridge’s protagonist in ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ commits a ‘crime’ of sorts and faces a series of ‘punishments,’ it is debateable whether it can simply be considered a ‘tale of crime and punishment’. As a phrase, ‘crime and punishment’ refers to a specific crime fitting a specific punishment, usually adjudicated by a governing body but could extend to the judgement of God if the historical context of the text is to be

1037 words - 5 pages
In the novel ‘’A Christmas Carol” written by Charles Dickens, he creates the main character Ebenze Scrooge to be an unbelieving miser. Scrooge changes his social conscience towards Christmas and his attitude towards money , but only dose this when he is visited by the three ghost of the chirstmas past, present and yet to come. The ghost’s form scrooge to make redemption, as he sees and feelings what he is putting people through. He also looks

2354 words - 10 pages
the 1960’s/70’s the British Labour Government designed and introduced the ‘Comprehensive’. The Comprehensive was intended to reduce class differences in educational attainment. It allowed children to mix from all social backgrounds and therefore provided equal opportunity.
Although this system has been highly criticised since it was first introduced there are a number of factors which imply and suggest that although the comprehensive system is

887 words - 4 pages
Look at the way a theme or character is presented in your chosen text. Include in your response any social, cultural and historical contexts that are important to your understanding of the theme or character.
The character I have chosen to write about is Candy in the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck.
Candy is sort of like a narrator in the beginning of the story. He is the oldest ranch hand in the novel, who knows just about

1905 words - 8 pages
considered by the term sin, where do you draw the line as to what is considered as a criminal act or not and is it just the existence of different laws that can cause these crimes. Many sociologists have constructed definitions of what they think crime is, however social construct, countries policies, white collar crimes, ideological census all need to be looked at and therefore defining the word crime produces many difficulties as to what behaviours

2071 words - 9 pages
source of news (Woods, 2015, p. 8). Statistics such as these become concerning when a clear “discrepancy between the crime rate and the public’s perceived crime rate has been commonly attributed to the expansive media coverage of crime, especially violent and more sensationalised crime” (Davis & Dossetor, 2010, p. 5). Furthermore, the reporting of drugs and other social deviances by media outlets is often criticised by popular and academic

1195 words - 5 pages
behaviour when the chance to achieve by legitimate means is obstructed. In this instance, the media are instrumental in setting the norm and therefore in encouraging crime. Although for many, relative deprivation cannot fully explain crime because not all those who experience it commit crime. The theory over predicts the amount of criminality.
James Mersserschmidt, looks at another factor that causes crime. He argues that masculinity is a social

1591 words - 7 pages
the absence of a clear explanation as to the cause of the dramatic decline of the total
crime rates in the early 1990s to 2005, our political leaders were quick to claim credit attributing
the same to the success of the criminal justice system (Reiman and Leighton, 2013). Reiman and
Leighton (2013), however, contend that the declining crime rate since 1992 is better explained by
other social factors to include decline in the use of crack

928 words - 4 pages
laws of societies accepted social behavior, including choosing to be an atheist and not giving into socialization.
One example of a sociologist who explains social action theory is Garfinkel. Garfinkel states that social order is created from the bottom up and that order and meaning are an accomplishment in which is something that members actively construct in everyday life by using common sense and knowledge. This makes ethnomethodology

Related Papers

1325 words - 6 pages
The concept of race is an ancient construction through which a single society models all of mankind around the ideal man. This idealism evolved from prejudice and ignorance of another culture and the inability to view another human as equal. The establishment of race and racism can be seen from as early as the Middle Ages through the present. The social construction of racism and the feeling of superiority to people of other ethnicities, have

516 words - 3 pages
TAKE CRIME AS A SOCIAL FENOMENON IN THE LIGHT OF MARXIST UNDERSTANDING.
The crime or exactly the criminal, according to Marx, was a stimulating subject for the development of productive forces and, simultaneously, a hero transgressor of bourgeois legal order. The Marxist approach could be cynical and offensive, especially to the hundreds of thousands of victims of violence. But we should not forget that Marx, in addition to a critic of

1697 words - 7 pages
The social networking community is flourishing at a phenomenal rate and not with just the adolescents of America or other countries around the world, but with adults as well. People of any age now have an account on a social networking site such as Myspace, Facebook, or Twitter. The almost immediate success of social networking sites such as these can be contributed to the ease of communication that they provide. The simplicity of communication

1921 words - 8 pages
Many people are not sure of the definition of domestic violence; the official Home Affairs Select Committee Report defines it as "any form of physical, sexual or emotional abuse which takes place within the context of a close relationship. In most cases, the relationship will be between partners (married, cohabiting) or ex-partners".In most cases the abuser is male as stated by the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC), but this is not always the